This is a test pilot for an international professional fitness instructor. This is the reason it is very plain and in a typical gym. When you are doing screen tests you don't build an extravagant set or tote all this gear to an exotic location. It was shot with 4 XL-1's with one flying on a jib specially made for DV type cameras or those weighing 15 lbs and below. In the opening you can see wide shots of the set with the jib and other XL's. Enjoy!

There was really no planning other than sercuring the gym for the location. The jib was built the night before, the cameras set up early on the morning of the shoot and we rolled shortly thereafter. There were only three crew members, two camera ops and one p.a.. The other two cameras were locked down since she stayed on the mat the whole time. This was just a screen test to see what coverage would look like on the real shoots. She was so familiar with her presentation there was no rehearsal either. I love working with talent like that!

Studio,
Yes, the audio was recorded straight to the master shot camera and the others were later synced to it with the slate. The music was played live, but very low, and added again at a bit higher level in post.

<<<-- Originally posted by James Emory : Studio,
Yes, the audio was recorded straight to the master shot camera and the others were later synced to it with the slate. The music was played live, but very low, and added again at a bit higher level in post. -->>>

You know I never even thought about the music playing live, but that would make sense. Did your actor/instructor use a wireless mike or did you use a boom?

thanks -- good work. The lav mic seemed to work pretty well. She certainly has good breath control, to extemporize like that -- but I guess fitness instructors get used to that sort of thing.

The occasional high jib shots and jib-descending shots were nice. One poss. thing I missed (mainly for some poss. visual variety I guess) might be some occasional real low, close shots; but you can't have everything -- at least not in a 4-camera shoot that's (evidently?) done in just one take. For the idea I mention, it would require a handheld cameraman lying on floor at instructor's foot-level, looking up -- maybe or maybe not suitable, just a thought.

Am curious -- what's the reason for doing the music live, rather than adding it in post? For overall mood / momentum / pacing of the instructor? (perhaps she's used to having music when teaching the routine?)

small tech question: Somebody had told me that for Win Media Player, one has to download the whole file, can't do streaming (unlike RealPlayer or Quicktime) -- but obviously this isn't true. What resolution (pixel dimensions) did you use for this? I guess you can do streaming (this via 56K modem for me) if you keep the image small . . .

In general, the edit seemed good -- w/ emphasis on being able clearly to see the movements.

#1 The reason the jib did not do low tracking shots is because the master shot was directly beneath the jib remote head. We could have just flown right in front of his shot and taken the jib shot as we flew in front of him, but it was really to close to his head to risk it. It would have been a good shot though. If you play the video again, you can see the set up with the wide shot of the set, just hit the space bar to pause the video and again to start.

#2 The reason for live audio playback is what you mentioned. This is what she uses to set the tone. I am very sure that with her experience and knowing her set she could have done it without the live playback.

#3 The running time is 20 minutes

#4 Windows Media ability to stream. You are definitely streaming this video. If not, the download time would have probably been an hour or more with dial up. If you get the opportunity, view this and some of the others with a high speed connection for much smoother, clearer playback. It depends on the file type as to whether it will stream or not. Streaming is also called progressive downloading. That is, you are able to view it as it is fed to your computer but it is NOT retained on your hard drive.

1) Sound -- when she turned away from the mic it was very hard to hear her. Under these conditions, you might want to consider using two mics--one on each side. Then, no matter which was she turns, she will be clearly heard.

2) Camera angles -- although she may not have needed to rehearse, I think some important visual information was missed, based on the camera angle and/or shot selected in the editing phase. It would have been to your advantage to rehearse so the camera operators could see what she was going to do. That way, they could have provided better coverage, providing more options in editing as well as making certain that the movements were being fully shown.

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